Restumping building permit in Victoria: what the pages say
A building permit in Victoria is issued by a registered building surveyor, private or municipal, and whether house restumping needs one is a question for that surveyor. Of the four Gippsland council pages we found, only Wellington Shire's says anything about restumping. The other three are silent, so we cannot say what they require. These notes were checked 6 November 2026, and council pages change.
The Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC) publishes a practice note, BP-01, "When is a building permit required", and a surveyor will work from it. We could not retrieve it in readable form, so we cannot say what it says about replacing house stumps. Read it, or ask the surveyor to show you the relevant part.
Who appoints the building surveyor
Only the owner, or the owner's agent, may appoint a private building surveyor. The BPC says a builder cannot appoint one for domestic building work under a domestic building contract, that the surveyor must notify the council within seven days, and that there is one surveyor per project. A registered building surveyor, private or municipal, issues permits, occupancy permits and certificates of final inspection (Building and Plumbing Commission surveyor page).
That matters most for a holiday house or a rental. If you live elsewhere, decide who your agent is before the builder visits, because the builder cannot do it for you.
What each council's page says
The table gives the wording of each page we fetched, and what each leaves out. Silence on a council page is not a statement about the rules either way.
| Council | What the page says about restumping | Who issues building permits on that page |
|---|---|---|
| Wellington | "Reblocking or restumping of an existing building: Permit Required." Underpinning is not mentioned (Wellington Shire building permits page). | "Wellington Shire Council does not issue Building Permits." "Building Permits are issued by private Building Surveyors." |
| East Gippsland | Restumping, reblocking and underpinning are not mentioned. The owner is responsible for obtaining the permit (East Gippsland building permits page). | "We do not issue Building Permits, these are issued through Private Building Surveyors" (private surveyors page). |
| South Gippsland | Restumping is not mentioned. The list says "you may use any appropriately registered practitioner of your choosing" (private surveyor list). | The list does not say who issues permits. |
| Bass Coast | Restumping is not mentioned on the ABLIS page, which is not the council's own site (ABLIS page for Bass Coast). | You apply through "a registered building surveyor, either private or municipal". "A building permit cannot be issued until a relevant planning permit (if required) is obtained." Whether Bass Coast has a municipal surveyor is not confirmed, and the council's own building page was not fetched. |
Wellington's page also lists a set of building fact sheets (Wellington fact sheet index). We read the index only and did not open each sheet. For houses in each council area, the place pages carry the local detail: Sale and Maffra for Wellington, Bairnsdale, Paynesville and Lakes Entrance for East Gippsland, Leongatha, Korumburra and Mirboo North for South Gippsland, and Wonthaggi and Inverloch and Cowes for Bass Coast.
What a surveyor usually asks for
Permit checklists from other Victorian councils, not Gippsland, show what surveyors commonly want to see. One guideline lists drawings with the floor plan and stump layout, a footing section (stump height above ground, hole depth and width, sole plate, stump type and size), a site plan showing easements, the title, a soil test report if applicable, the method of termite treatment, the builder's registration and engineer's computations where required (another Victorian council's guideline). Another asks for the title, a planning permit if applicable, builder details, a site plan and a specification covering stump size, width, depth, ant capping and the connection to bearers (another council's checklist). Treat these as questions, not as the requirement for your house.
Fees: what the councils list for 2026-27
We found two council fees, both dated 2026-27, and neither is specific to restumping. South Gippsland's schedule lists a building permit lodgement fee of $142.15 (South Gippsland fee schedule). The Bass Coast ABLIS page lists $142.10 for lodgement of private surveyor documentation. The surveyor sets their own fee, so ask what it covers. Ask the council for the current figure before you rely on either amount. The cost guide shows where fees sit among the other costs.
Owner-builders, heritage and overlays
The BPC says a certificate of consent is required to get a building permit for domestic building work valued over $16,000, and that an owner-builder must engage a building surveyor (Building and Plumbing Commission owner-builder page). This site does not encourage owners to restump a house themselves. Consumer Affairs Victoria's definitions page gives the same owner-builder figure (Consumer Affairs Victoria definitions).
The council heritage pages we found do not mention restumping, and the Bass Coast page says a building permit cannot be issued until a relevant planning permit is obtained, if one is required. Whether an overlay applies to your house is a planning question, covered in the flood and overlay rules page. When you are ready to compare builders, use the quote checklist and the registration and contracts page, or send your town and the type of house.
What this page cannot do
This page cannot tell you whether your house restumping job needs a building permit. It quotes the council pages we found, notes where three of them are silent, and names the practice note a surveyor will use but that we could not read. We cannot say what the rules require in your council area, or how they apply to restumping, reblocking, relevelling or underpinning. We are a referral service: we pass your enquiry to a local builder. A registered building surveyor decides what permit applies, and the builder holds any registration or insurance that applies.
Check the current rules before you rely on this
This page describes what the Wellington, East Gippsland, South Gippsland and Bass Coast pages we found say about building permits and surveyors, and where they stop. It describes the rules in general terms as they stood in November 2026, checked 6 November 2026. Standards, forms, thresholds and fees change.
The authoritative sources are Wellington Shire Council, building permits (lists 'Reblocking or restumping of an existing building: Permit Required.'), East Gippsland Shire Council, building permits (page is silent on restumping), South Gippsland Shire Council, private building surveyors list (page is silent on restumping), Business.gov.au (ABLIS), building permit, Bass Coast Shire Council (not the council's own page) and BPC, appointing a building surveyor. Where anything here differs from those sources, they are right and we are not.
We are not builders, building surveyors, regulators or lawyers. For what applies to your job, ask the builder which registration they hold and check it on the Building and Plumbing Commission register, then ask a registered building surveyor and your council what is needed. Contract, deposit and payment rules change by 1 December 2026.
Accurate at the time of writing, November 2026. Always check the source before relying on it.